Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority security officers, paid by taxpayers and charged with protecting visitors, drive CEO Rossi Ralenkotter and and former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to casinos, shops and other locations so often that staff members dubbed the dispatches “Rossi runs” and “Oscar runs” in security logs obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Excessive spending at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority highlights the need for a special agency to investigate financial abuse within state and local government, Democratic and Republican lawmakers say.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s audit committee chairman said internal reviews did not flag questionable expenses uncovered in a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation before the story ran. But he is planning a change that might scrutinize similar spending in the future.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s top executive criticized a Review-Journal investigative reporter for seeking an interview at the personal residence of the organization’s chief financial officer.

Assembly Republicans received instructions Wednesday not to talk to the Las Vegas Review-Journal about its investigation of lavish spending by the publicly funded Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.